As it faces waves of climate emergencies and pandemic shutdowns, outrages and protests, America sometimes feels like it's coming apart. The writers in this collection of essays tell a different, more hopeful story: of a country learning not to turn its back to the changeable and restless forces of history.

A mixed-race mother reflects on being mistaken for a nanny at her children's playground. A writer interrogates his own relationship to "Asianness." Parents confront fears around their children's futures, and a historical essay asks us to confront inequality at its starkest: the unmarked graves awaiting some of our unhoused. By looking intimately at the biased thinking that has fueled our divisions, these writers-clear-eyed, inviting, insightful-chart a new way forward. These are the visions that are Next.